Book Review: The Heights

I wanted to like this book. I really did. After all, The Heightsis written by famous author and screenwriter Peter Hedges (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Dan in Real Life, About a Boy). It got great reviews from both professional and amateur critics. Unfortunately, I felt that it was a mundane story about mundane people who make typical mundane choices. The best part of this book is the construct of alternating chapters among the main characters’ voices. Hedges has perfect timing and his taut narrative is admirable, but I just didn’t care very much about any of these characters.